CNN may not dominate cable news the way longtime leader Fox News Channel does, but the network claims a “cross-media” audience of 174 million–more than half the U.S. population.
According to research by CNN and comScore, CNN’s digital presence essentially extends its TV reach by nearly 50 percent.
The research comes from Xmedia, described as the first-ever syndicated product to measure a “total, unduplicated view of audience across television, desktop and mobile properties” in a single metric. CNN is an Xmedia launch partner in a deal announced Wednesday morning between CNN and comScore.
“As the global multiplatform leader in news, it’s a priority to continuously innovate our measurement capabilities to keep pace with our consumer and meet the business objectives of our advertising partners across all platforms and screens,” said CNN senior vice president of research and scheduling Robin Garfield in a statement. “The Xmedia product is a vital tool to analyze our total unduplicated, overlapping and incremental audiences across platforms, as well as fulfill the demand in the marketplace to plan, execute and optimize targeted campaigns against our entire cross-media audience.”
In the case of presidential debates, the Xmedia research found audiences across media extended CNN’s reach by at least 40 percent, and up to nearly 70 percent.
“This study of CNN’s cross-media audience is a great example of how a media brand with a strong footprint on TV, desktop and mobile can demonstrate its full value proposition to advertisers, while at the same time getting a better understanding of how its own viewers engage across different media touchpoint,” said comScore co-founder Gian Fulgoni.